Australian outlaw Ned Kelly to be laid to rest, 132 years later

January 16, 2013|Reuters

By Thuy Ong

SYDNEY, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The remains of Australia's mostfamous outlaw, Ned Kelly, are finally to be laid to rest, 132years after he was hanged for murder.

Kelly's descendants, who received the bushranger's remainsafter they were exhumed from a mass prison grave, said onWednesday they will hold a private church memorial service onFriday before the burial in an unmarked grave on Sunday.

The homemade armour and helmet Kelly wore during his lastviolent shootout with police and his reported final words beforehe was hanged at Melbourne Gaol on November 11, 1880 -- "such islife" -- helped make him an iconic figure in Australian history.

His family, the Kelly Gang, became a symbol for socialtensions between poor Irish settlers and the wealthyestablishment at the time, and Kelly himself became a folk heroto many for standing up to the Anglo-Australian ruling class.

Kelly's descendants said the private farewells were inkeeping with the outlaw's requests.

"The descendants of the Kelly family wish to give effect toNed Kelly's last wish and that he now be buried in consecratedground with only his family in attendance in order to ensure a private, respectful and dignified funeral," the family said in astatement.

"The family wish for their privacy to be respected so thatthey may farewell a very much loved member of their family."

One Australian media outlet reported that Kelly will beburied at Greta, near Glenrowan, north-east of Victoria, wherehis mother is buried in an unmarked grave.

Kelly's remains have made a circuitous journey to theirfinal resting place.

They were first buried in a mass grave at Melbourne Gaol.When that closed in 1929, Kelly's bones were exhumed andreburied in another mass grave at the newer Pentridge Prison.

All the bones buried in Pentridge yard were exhumed in 2009and Kelly's skeleton was positively identified in 2011 byscientists after DNA tests against a descendant. The Victoriastate government said in August it would return the skeleton tothe family.

Kelly's skull remains missing. It was believed to have beenseparated from his skeleton during the transfer.

His life story inspired the novel "True History of the KellyGang" by author Peter Carey, which won the 2001 Booker Prize,and the late actor Heath Ledger played him in a 2003 movie.